The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and relevant links.

Feeding Frenzy

When visiting Santa Cruz, California, on Monterey Bay a few weeks back I knew something was awry as soon as I looked at the water. There were hundreds of seabirds on the bay. It reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's"The Birds". Pelicans, seagulls, cormorants and terns were screaming and frenetically diving into the water. In the midst of all the birds I noticed a pod of California sea lions (at right center of photo). A lonely harbor seal was swimming closer to the shore and further away dolphins and humpback whales were exhibiting breaching behavior. When we made our way down to the shoreline we realized what was happening. Anchovies were even beaching themselves in a futile attempt to flee from predators both in the sea and in the sky. Just what brought about the explosion of anchovies is unknown at present. However, anchovies had been unusually scarce in these waters for the past five or six years. According to Dr. Baldo Marinovic, a marine biologist with the University of California at Santa Cruz, it’s possible that a convergence of factors including a milder than usual fall, strong upwelling of colder water and normal cycling of nutrients conspired to create near perfect conditions for the population to explode.